Thurs 28th May - Teaching in Juhu

Today has been non stop! At 9.30am, I was in Mahim with Rajesh to meet the street kids and play some football. I decided that it is best to just let them play and get them interested in football. Once the interest is there and the numbers grow then, I will start more coaching. It was a great time. There were about 12 kids to start with (all 12 -16yr) but by the end of the game we were up to 16. I marked out a pitch and we just played. Many of them are new to football and struggle to even kick the ball. A few got better as the game went on and I am sure by next week they will be more coachable. I decided to join in the game which seemed to encourage them even more and it gave me a chance to give some valuable tips to them as the game went on. The kids loved it! By the end of the game they were so enthusiastic that they wanted to know when they could play again. We finished about 10.30 and they then joined the younger children for food. As you can imagine, Playing almost an hour of football in the Indian heat is going to send the sweat glands into overtime. By 11.00, I had already drunk 4 litres of water. At 11.00am, I got back into the car (not before ripping my jeans on the number plate) and we headed for Juhu beach. At Juhu beach, there is a sheltered area where teaching and feeding takes place. Most of the children here are street children and beggers, some live with older siblings on the street with no parents. It was great to go and see them learning and they were all really keen to show me the work they were doing on the alphabet. Unfortunately the children that we met on Juhu beach during the first were not there but the team are looking out for them. Whilst watching the teaching at Juhu, I noticed that one boy (aged 11) had an old rag wrapped arount his foot. I asked Rajesh to find out from the boy what was wrong. He told Rajesh that a car had run over the side of his foot and that he had been to the doctor. By the state of the rag and the fact there were flies gathering around his foot, I didn't believe that he had been to a doctor. I asked Rajesh to get him to remove the rag, which he did! What I saw was a huge flesh wound which was dirty, septic and was going rotten to the extent that it attracted all the flies. I told Rajesh that he has to go to a doctor and I gave some money to one of the teachers to take him the clinic at the end of the session. Unfortunately, we left before the end of the session and this did not happen as the boy ran into the sea and would not come out. I told Rajesh that he must be taken to the doctor tomorrow. If his wound is not treated then he could end up losing his foot. I will continue to chase this one up! After Juhu beach, I was invited bach to Rajesh's house for lunch. His wife is an amazing cook and made excellent Japattis and chicken curry. I am being converted to traditional Indian food and I don't know whether I will be able to go back to English Indian curries again! After lunch we followed the late shift bus to it's first two stops. The second stop, Reay Road, is where the children are incredibly dirty and the children here are hygienically the worst of all the Vision Rescue children. I watch the teaching session making careful notes to feedback to the teacher and then we gave the children the new t-shirts that we had printed for them. I can not describe the look of joy on the children's faces when they were told they were getting a new t-shirt as a school uniform. They looked so smart! The front of the t-shirt has the Vision Rescu logo and on the back it says ' I am worthy of a brighter future' in Hindi! I will be going back next week to see if they are still wearing the t-shirt and then we will order another 700, one for each child.